Banishment: Book One in the Altair Trilogy
by ckanime
Summary: A wrongly fully accused flier is banished into the uncharted lands. His only chance for survival is either to try his luck alone or trust the other banished ones. But are all of the others so trustworthy... Intence violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

_Book One of the Altair Trilogy_

**Banishment**

**Chapter One**

_'_

Banishment, a raucous word to begin with. The littlest consequence banishment can bring is being shunned, which can kill a physique or drive someone into insanity. Full scale banishment, being sent into an inhabited wasteland, is worse then death. To be sent away knowing no one loves you, no one feels for you, no one will ever be there for you. Knowing you'll die alone with an emaciated life behind you and several regrets, what person deserves that hell? What race of people could do such an atrocious thing? The answer is simple, the Underland.

Altair the flier is not of malicious intent or ever was. Of course he was well known. His now deceased bond was the late Queen Luxa's youngest son. Everyone knew of the infamous Prophecy of Blaze, the one that predicted to annihilate nearly all of the royal family in an immense inferno. But no one predicted it would strike so suddenly, especially Altair.

In the thick smog that hung over the burning city of Regalia it was hard to even to tell which way is which. It was hard to tell what was in front of you, or even on you. Altair didn't know Prince Djion has passed out due to the fumes, he didn't know he was getting to low to the hundred foot monstrosity driven by burning carnage, he didn't know a wall of flame would shoot up and send him reeling an impressive corkscrew turn. But what he did know is that Djion's limp body fell and was swallowed by the flaming abyss.

When the flame was finally contained down to a smoldering pile of rubble and embers the scorched body of Djion would be found and his death blamed on innocent Altair. Queen Luxa was unfortunately also a victim of the fire. In fact, the only surviving member of the royal family, eldest son Prince Cameroon, would have the throne succeeded to him and would have the council pass judgment on Altair for the death of Djion. His punishment was already decided, banishment.

_'_

Altair stood in the arena in an abashed position upon a podium, his long black and gold spattered wings draped over his chest and bound by rope. His back solemnly faced the horde of Regalians, his long gold stripe running down his back taking on a barrage of stones. He felt so distant, so solitary, so disparate and so loathsome. Around his somber stature odium howls echoed, but they didn't even make Altair quiver.

All of the sudden waves of silence filled the arena. Altair turned around and redirected his gaze upon the top sheltered section of the scorched arena. The head of the council and King Cameroon's lead advisor, Isodore, stood with his back hunched and his head facing out at Altair. His graying hair hung lackadaisically in a pony tail and stretched down to his waist. His hand was outstretched in the air making a, _'silence'_ symbol. Steadily he mouthed the words, "The verdict will be revealed."

The silhouette of King Cameroon appeared out of secures draped alcove. He came out with a limp in his leg, obviously hurt by the meaning of this proposed banishment. As he appeared small talk began to return to the arena. The king cleared his raspy throat to try and reclaim silence.

"Quite!" squawked Isodore dryly. Hush spread over the anticipating crowd. His head bowed quickly and he took his place beside his king.

Cameroon was obviously nervous; this was his first real ultimatum. He began a gargled sentence, "The council and I have debated quite some time, and not all of us believed what Altair said about the accident, but…" Cameroon took a pause and sighed.

Altair glared up at the looming figure. As of right now, his life was dangling by a thread, two courses, one leading to redemption, one to a living hell. For the first time since the trials began he quaked, but only a small shudder. Altair's fur began to bristle as he saw Isodore's lips press onto Cameroon's ear as he whispered.

Strength returned to Cameroon as his temples began to bulge. His eyes turned a disturbing red as his voice began to bellow, "Altair the flier! You have been found guilty for betrayal and murder of your bond Prince Djion of Regalia! Your punishment is banishment into the uncharted lands for life!" He twisted abruptly around as his royal robe swung loosely to and fro. For his final words he rotated his head and proclaimed, "Friendship and love was once burning for you in the form of my brother, and you killed it. To kill love, an absolute abomination would only dare to do that. May you rot in hell?! I say so!" Once again he twisted around and disappeared into his alcove.

Stunned, Altair cried out at the king, "Cameroon, why do you not trust me!! You must believe me!! Cameroon!!"

Around the pitiful flier roars of sentences such as "You heard the king, rot!" and "Loveless bastard!" drilled into Altair's mind. He collapsed on the ground and began to ball out in deep sobs. He began to beat his wings under the thick rope as a desperate last attempt at flying around. His body writhed around in the dirt and covered himself in dust.

Soldiers surrounded Altair and snatched up patches of his black fur. Their nails dug deep into his skin leaving small craters of blood. Altair howled as the soldiers began take him away. "Wait, please! I'm innocent, I swear! I don't deserve this! You know how chaotic the inferno was! I didn't even know where I was going! He passed out and fell! Please, believe me! Please!!"

A fist pelted the flier's gut. "Shut your trap, traitor. Your fate is sealed," he spat at him. The blow was soon followed by several others as the soldiers began to snicker. All of Altair's words became gargled by his heavy sobs. For a moment he actually wished for death, slow death. If it were to come now he wouldn't even have to face the horrors of banishment. With relentless tears he bit down on his tongue.

"Don't even try. You'll live or die in the uncharted lands; not here," sneered a soldier as he whacked the back of Altair's head.

What the soldier said registered in Altair's head. Live or die. He didn't even have to die there, he could flourish there, he could prosper there, and he could survive. His tears began to dry up and his voice steadied. In a nonchalant tone he said, "I will not let this event haunt me. I'll move on, I swear here. I'll get retribution for Djion. But for now, I'll await banishment. Take me away guards!"

One soldier howled in laughter and said, "What do ya' think we are doing." Altair remained silent at the remark.

Darkness began to enclose over Altair as the top of his body disappeared out of the arena. Moments later he had left the arena for good, unsure of what hardships and struggles awaited him.

_'_

**OOC: Paths is unfortunately on hold. My laptop which had the chapter 2 document still on it and was nearly complete crashed. I'm sorry to anyone waiting for an update.**

**OOC 2: Most of my work has a song influence. For this chapter it is One by Metallica.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Book One in the Altair Trilogy_

**Banishment**

**Chapter Two**

_'_

Altair winced as a sudden pain over took his body. From behind him a soldier had jabbed his blade leaving a bloody wound and snickered, "Keep walkin' flier. We're nearly there." The warm sensation of maroon blood pouring filled Altair with a sensation of dread. Doing as he was told, he sped up.

Around him soldiers escorting him to his destination whooped and hollered at the pain he was suffering. _'Accursed bunch lot of soldiers'_ grimly thought Altair.

"It was all going ta' burn anyways! I don't deserve this!" howled a voice to Altair's right. Altair knew of who possessed this voice. A lumpenproletariat thief had infiltrated the palace when the Prophecy of Blaze fire began and tried to pillage the throne room and other rooms with valuables as the palace was chaotically evacuating. The thief's name was Phelix.

"Stealing in any situation is ragtag to begin with, _Phelix_," sneered a soldier with annunciation on 'Phelix.' The soldier unsheathed his blade quick and strong so that the hilt crashed into Phelix's back.

"Damn it! You can't abuse me even if I am a criminal!" roared Phelix in a loathsome tone.

"I'll tell you what we _can_ and _can't_ do!" bellowed a one of the guards with his eyes narrowing in on Phelix.

"_Firstly_, I can abuse someone we are banishing until the Prophecy of Apocalypse rears its ugly head into our lives!" clamored the now red faced soldier as he jammed his hilt back into Phelix's spine. Phelix yelped and crouched down.

"_Secondly_, I believe no good scum like you should be taught a lesson! Possibly you'll be steered straight, possibly you'll life will end and we won't have to deal with you anymore!" Another blow from his hilt landed on Phelix's back. Phelix sank down onto his knees.

"_Unfortunately_,I can't beat you anymore because we're deep enough in uncharted lands to let you and the traitor flier go!" One last barrage of hilt landed on Phelix's spine causing him to fall face down on the sandy ground they were standing on.

From behind Altair a soldier smashed him down and sent him skidding into the sand. "Looks like this is where we part _Altair_. Good luck living out here, you'll need it to get past some tricky obstacles," blustered a soldier. All of the other soldiers burst out in laughter and began to humorous goodbyes to him and Phelix. Slowly the laughter died down and the soldiers began to trudge away.

"Wait! Aren't all of you going to untie my wings?" called Altair at the group of soldiers in a flustered voice.

"And my arms and legs too!" added Phelix desperately.

One soldier stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the two. "That's your first obstacle because if we did that couldn't you two return?" he asked. The question was followed by a brief roar of laughter and then the sound of their feet moving again.

"Wait!! Wait!!" shrieked Altair. His words were in vein, the soldiers had already out of sight.

"Looks like we're in a bit of a situation here. Don't worry, I'm covered," uttered Phelix.

"What are you talking about? There is no way we are 'covered,' there is nothing that will help us anywhere near us," responded Altair. For a couple seconds Altair looked up at his surroundings to see if Phelix saw something he didn't.

No, just miles and miles of strange orange nearly glowing sand and rocks stretching out in what looked to be a very long, very wide, very desolate canyon.

"That's what you think but one of my soldier friends slipped me this before we departed," explained Phelix. For the first time Altair noticed a small blade sticking out of the corner of Phelix's rope binding his hands together. In a quick flick of his wrists, Phelix severed the rope holding his hands together.

"You hid that under your makeshift rope cuffs this whole trip?" asked Altair.

"It wasn't comfortable but at least it's a plan of escape," Phelix responded.

"Why didn't you just use it earlier and fought off the soldiers?"

"A knife against several blades isn't exactly an even fight. But hell, I can still cut myself free with it," Phelix began his incision on the thin rope that gave him limited walking capabilities and bound his legs as he spoke. "Now I must bid you goodbye. Fly you high Altair the flier. I'll be going on a shortcut where the soldiers won't know were I am" Phelix rose to his feet as the severed rope fell down and began to sprint in the opposite direction as soldiers.

"You're not going to sever my bonds either?!" yelled Altair. Phelix turned around slightly as if he was considering what Altair said, then continued to sprint the direction of the soldiers.

One foot of Phelix's stepped onto a patch of a discolored sandy dune by one of the walls of the canyon somewhat fifty meters outside of Altair. Altair could see Phelix look distraught as if something was out of place, than he noticed the ground. Small tremors began to shake at Phelix's feet. Phelix collapsed onto the ground with a _bang_! Phelix began to pant heavily as he saw the tremors grow more violent and the sand erupt out of the ground. All of the sudden a repugnant silhouette of some creature explode out of the dune!

On impact Phelix was sent flying ten feet away onto a pile of dull stones. The creature turned to face Phelix lying exposed and defenseless on the small pile of stones. One large appendage reached out of the creature and grabbed Phelix. One moment later the appendage severed Phelix at his waist. The lifeless cadaver of what once was the marauder dropped down to the ground. In that instant Altair could tell what he was facing, a stinger, and the largest one he had ever seen.

The stinger turned to its disfigured prey and closed in on it. Pincher like appendages near the stinger's mouth grabbed the mangled limbs of Phelix and began to slowly pulverize the body. Altair watched as the appendages brought the limbs to its mouth and devoured the fellow banished one's body.

Altair sneezed softly while face down in the sand. Immediately he jerked his head up to check if the stinger had noticed the little sound. Nothing was ahead of him except more discolored sand, more then likely it burrowed itself back under ground. Lethargically, Altair rolled onto his back and revealed his soft golden under belly.

"Grghrrrrrr…" A long low sound echoed over head. Altair looked erratically straight foreword at the dark shape that loomed over him. Ahead was the stinger with its long black tail aimed toward him. "Grghrrrrrr!" it squealed at Altair. Its long tail flipped around in the air and then came crashing down on Altair.

Altair quickly rolled to the left as the stinger's tale smashed the area were he once lay. Dust lingered from the impact and ruffled his fur. Altair coughed and stifled to clean his now dusty throat.

Another onslaught from the stinger's tale impended over head. Altair jumped back and landed on his feet terrified as he watched the blow get mere centimeters from his body. A cleaved rope dropped to Altair's feet. The blow wasn't just _near_ his body; it actually severed the rope that bound his wings.

Altair flapped his wings quickly to get the gist of spreading his wings out again. Everything seemed okay but circulation seemed tight around his elbow. _No time to worry how your elbows feel_ thought Altair. He beat his wings rapidly until he began rise up into the air.

A pang in Altair's wings made him cringe. It was obvious he couldn't fly high, or fast, or far. He probably couldn't out fly the stinger, so he had to find some way to at least disable it…

Yet another swing of the stinger's tail whirled past with great inertia. The near hit though sent Altair reeling back into reality. Altair flew a little backwards from the wall of the canyon he hovered by to give him time to search his surroundings for some sort plan to disable the stinger.

"Damn it!" he screamed under his breath when he came up with nothing. Altair began to fly slightly away as the stinger grew closer and closer. As the stinger charged the glint that brilliant glint that reflected of its black exoskeleton gave Altair an idea to at least gain a little more time to think.

With clawed foot extended, Altair dive bombed the creature and punctured the stinger's shell.

"Grghrrrrrr!" The stinger cried as the talon-like claws ripped through it. In a storm of paroxysm the stinger lashed out with a barrage from its tail. One stray blow managed to land on the canyon wall and lodge its tail into it. A few small pebbles and a large rock showered down with a cloud of grit hit the stinger on its head. "Grghrrrrrr!" it cried again. A few moments later it dislodged its tail and held up again in striking position.

_That's it_! thought Altair. _All I have to do is make its blows knock on the canyon until a boulder falls on it_! _Perfect guerrilla warfare style_! Altair hovered momentarily then went down for another bombardment of him claws.

His claws tore through the exoskeleton of the stinger leaving a nasty elongated scar spewing guts. Once again it lashed out with its tail at Altair but had its tail lodged in the canyon. This time larger rocks fell onto it.

_One last time_! Exhausted, Altair nose dived and sunk his claws into the stinger's head and flew away. The stinger's pinchers snapped out at Altair and nearly clipped his left foot. Its tail came in for one final strike…

The stinger's tail hit the canyon with a _smack_! The sound of a vigorous tremor shook the section of the canyon wall. All of the sudden a rugged and gnarled boulder plummeted off the canyon and collided with the stinger.

Innards, viscera and pieces of black shell rained down on the area. Altair coasted in for a landing to see that if anything of the stinger remained.

Relieved to see only an execrated mess under the crater of the boulder, Altair leaned up against the canyon satisfied he was safe. He bellowed a deep _yawn! _and slumped further down onto the canyon. Eventually he dozed off exhausted yet worried of what could lay ahead.


End file.
